La Tea Dah

A couple days ago, my gal pals and I had another of our "girlz day outs". We try to do this as often as we can while still juggling around everyone's schedules. One works four days a week with Friday's off (that's  good thing), another works during the school year and has Summers off. And I am "at liberty" almost all the time.

This time, our plan was to check out a local tea room which moved into a new site because of a fire at the original site. The original site was in an old Victorian mansion, with a rabbits warren of small rooms on the first floor. Of course it also boasted of fireplaces, niches, bay windows, window seats, and cubbies, all those wonderful Victorian architectural fancies.

The new location is far less elegant and of a more modern vintage, but it too is in a re-imagined house. It does not have the ambience of the original location but it's still a tea room and there's a feeling  that you've, somehow, gone back in time.

white fur muff hanging off  a chair - who remembers using those to keep hands warm?

wall of vintage hats to wear while tea drinking

Sometimes we scrapbook the memory of our "Girlz Day Out" but this time this blog post is the record.

Primitive Kitchen Cupboard

One of my favorite haunts is Country Craft Sales. Usually these are "Girls Day Out" events and sometimes involve a long motor trip. This particular Show took place in a town about twenty five miles from where I live.

When I saw this primitive wooden shelf unit, I fell in love immediately. I could just "picture" it hanging in my kitchen. My kitchen is small-ish and has only three walls. Two of which are home to countertop, closed door cupboards and stove. Wall #3 houses the fridge and an whole empty expanse (this is the space I want to "gussie" up). On the forth side is total openness into the family room - creating a greatroom space.

I would gaze and gaze at this open available space and try to imagine what to do with it. I did have a large watercolor hanging in it at one time but that picture looked lost in the midst of all that space.

At this Craft Show, I saw the perfect solution to my dilemma. The primitive shelf unit !!  I could fill it with primitive collectibles.

I purchased it from a carpenter who had his huge truck parked behind his showroom booth. His truck was outfitted like a carpenter's work shop. Lathes, saws, sanders, etc. The smell of freshly hewn trees, intoxicating to me. He put the finishing touches on my unit and loaded it in the back of my car. It measures 33" high and 44" in width. Perfect for that wall.

note the roller skates belonging to my boys on top shelf-their marbles on 3rd shelf

Now the next hurdle is to convince my husband to hang it up. He's not too keen on making holes in the walls. Plus, after having been married to him for a very long time, I knew better than to harass and nag him to get it done. That would have just cemented his resolve to never suspend that thing in his kitchen. So, I waited..........................

And then one day..............................done ♥♥♥



note sewing items-threads-needles-buttons
 

I love it. It makes my kitchen feel cozy and warm like kitchens of yore. It's not at all sleek and clean, spare and functional. It's full of memories, warmth, hominess and nostalgia.